gssbsecretariat@globalreporting.org

Item 03 – GRI Topic Standard Projectfor Climate Change – Proposed
members for Technical Committee
For GSSB Approval
Date2 May 2023

Meeting16 May 2023

Project

GRI Topic Standard Project for Climate Change

Description

The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) has identified the GRI
Climate Change-related Topic Standards review as a priority project. The
proposal was approved in the GSSB meeting of February 2023.
This paper presents the final nominated experts for the technical committee andits subgroups for approval by the GSSB. These nominated experts secure boththe Labor constituency and the regional representation.

This document has been prepared by the GRI Standards Division and is made available to observers
at meetings of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB). It does not represent an official
position of the GSSB. Board positions are set out in the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. TheGSSB is the independent standard setting body of GRI. For more information visit
www.globalreporting.org.

© GRI 2023

Contents
1. Background ......................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Selection process and criteria ............................................................................................................. 3
3. Proposed technical committee composition........................................................................................ 5Page 2 of 7

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1. Background

2The GSSB approved the project proposal for the GRI Topic Standard Project for Climate Change

3following its meeting on 16 February 2023.

4

In line with the GSSB’s Due Process Protocol, the GSSB confirmed its intention to form a multi-

5

stakeholder technical committee (TC) to provide technical advice for developing the revised Topic

6Standard.

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This document presents the third and final group of nominated experts for the technical committee

8and its subgroups for approval by the GSSB. The first group of nominated experts was approved in

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the GSSB meeting of March and the second group of nominated experts was approved in the GSSB

10

Meeting of April. All the nominated members have confirmed their availability and interest in

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participating in the technical committee and its subgroups.

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2. Selection process and criteria

13

As per the due process protocol, technical committee members are appointed by the GSSB and14

should reflect a balance of multi-stakeholder constituencies.

15With this third and final group of nominated experts the technical committee comprises 13 members

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seconded by 10 subgroup members all together responsible for revising GRI climate change-related

17Standards.

18

With the focus on climate change-related topics, different constituencies will have an equal voice in

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the technical committee. The technical committee is divided into subgroups to develop

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recommendations on specific topics as part of the standards development. For the subgroup work,

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technical committee members have seconded colleagues with specific expertise.

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All stakeholder constituencies on which GSSB membership is based do have representation in the23technical committee or its subgroups. According to the due process protocol, after approval of the24

final TC member nominations in the GSSB meeting of May, the climate change TC will now include

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experts from each constituency on which the membership of the GSSB is based: business enterprise,

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civil society, investment institutions, labor, and mediating institutions. In addition, geographical,

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gender, and cultural diversity is established. The members represent diverse, multi-stakeholder

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backgrounds and bring an excellent combination of relevant knowledge and experience in climate

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change related topics.

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Furthermore, we ensured regional and topic-specific advice and expertise via an extensive peer

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network of experts to support the technical committee and the Standards Division during content

32development.

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In line with the GSSB’s Due Process Protocol, the technical committee will report to the GSSB and

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seek guidance and advice whenever required to advance the revision project or when they cannot

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reach a consensus. When the technical committee is satisfied that it has a proposed (set) of draft

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Standard(s) that is ready for public consultation, the draft(s) will be presented to the GSSB for

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approval.

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3. Proposed technical committee composition

39

Table 1. Proposed technical committee composition#First nameNameOrganization

Constituency

RegionExtract of background and experience

1

AzaharaMerino
MartosConfederación
Sindical deComisiones
Obreras (CCOO)

LaborEurope

Azahara Merino is currently technician at the Secretariat for Strategic Transitions and Territorial
Development, head of Ecological Transition Area in the Confederación Sindical de Comisiones
Obreras (CCOO). She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal “Trabajadora”.
Previously, she was Environment Technician at the CCOO Confederal Secretariat forEnvironment and Mobility. As part of her work Azahara studies topics related to just transition,energy, climate change, circular economy and social economy. She is analyzing and preparing
reports on the forementioned subjects; monitoring regulations and policies on issues related tothese areas, at the national, European and international levels; conducting studies, reports,
publications and articles; and prepare and delivery papers and presentations at national andEuropean round tables, seminars and conferences.

(TCmember)

Azahara holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences in the University of Granada (Spain), with a
Post-doctorate in Renewable Energies in the Laboratory of Low Temperature Materials (LMBT)of the "Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)/IFGW-Instituto de Fisica GlebWataghin. Campinas-Sao Paulo (Brazil). Azahara has a degree in environmental sciences fromthe University of Granada. She worked at the Water Institute of the University of Granada andparticipated in several research projects in her area of expertise and published several articles
in scientific journals.
2Zahra(TCmember)Omar

Centre forEnvironmental
Rights

Civil society

AfricaZahra Omar joined the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) in 2017. Zahra completed herarticles in the CER’s Mining Programme and was admitted as an attorney of the High Court ofSouth Africa in 2019. Since then, Zahra has been working as an environmental justice attorneyin the CER’s Corporate Accountability & Transparency Programme where she works to expose
institutions of power and their decisions and policies in order to advance transparency andenvironmental & climate justice. On behalf of the CER, Zahra plays a key role as a member of
the Fair Finance Coalition of Southern Africa, a civil society coalition working towards ensuringthat public finance institutions invest in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
Zahra holds an LLB from the University of Cape Town and is currently reading for her LLM in
Human Rights Law where her dissertation focuses on the constitutional obligations of financial

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institutions in light of the just transition. Zahra is particularly interested in the link between
human rights and climate and environmental justice. When she’s not reading, Zahra enjoys
painting, travelling and learning new languages.
3LeanneGovindsamy(Sub-groupmember)Centre forEnvironmentalRights

Civil society

AfricaLeanne Govindsamy is a human rights lawyer working towards social and environmental
justice. As head of the Corporate, Accountability and Transparency Programme at the Centre
for Environmental Rights, she utilises legal advocacy and other tools to promote and protect
constitutional rights and values through corporate accountability and transparency.”
Centre for Environmental Rights, Programme Head: Corporate Accountability andTransparency
Leanne holds an LLB from the Wits University and an LLM in International Human Rights
Law summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame. She served as a law clerk in theConstitutional Court to Justice Tholakele Madala and worked briefly at legal NGOs in India,
which reinforced her commitment to the attainment of social justice and the protection ofhuman rights through judicial and non-judicial mechanisms of accountability. She completed
her articles at the law firm Cheadle Thompson and Haysom, where she continued to work as
an associate before joining Corruption Watch as Head of Legal and Investigations in 2014. She
has obtained an MA in Anthropology from Wits University.
Leanne joined the Centre in October 2018 and manages its Corporate Accountability andTransparency programme.

4Brandon(Sub-groupmember)

AbdinorCentre forEnvironmentalRights

Civil society

AfricaBrandon joined the CER as a Climate Advocacy Lawyer in 2021. In this role he engages withclimate change related laws and policies with a view to helping ensure that these are effective
and advance the needs of climate justice for all. The role includes liaising with a wide range ofstakeholders to gather and share information and build consensus around legal advocacy inpursuit of an increasingly sound and just climate change response. Since March 2023,
Brandon has been acting at the Head: pollution and Climate Change programme overseeing allactivities.
He obtained an LLB from University of the Witwatersrand and was admitted as an attorney in1998 after serving articles at Routledges Incorporated in Johannesburg. He went on to fulfil
various management and legal roles in the corporate sector before opening his own legal andconsulting practice in 2018, focussing on dispute resolution and sustainability matters.
Brandon became aware of the extent of the environmental crisis in the early 2000’s, which led
him to introduce climate change response and general sustainability initiatives into theorganisations he was leading at the time. Some of these efforts culminated in a greening of acorporate head office, the formulation of energy efficient building standards for the construction

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industry, climate change awareness training and standing engagement on the Durban Climate
Change Partnership.
Most recently Brandon acted as first a board member, then consulting associate at Earthlife
Africa, which saw him design and deliver legal rights training for grassroots communities, aswell as provide legal support on various environmental campaigns.

5Katie(Subgroupmember)

SierksMicrosoftBusinessEnterprise

NorthAmerica

For fun, he enjoys yoga, the outdoors and reading about and engaging with how we can createa more generative world.
Katie Sierks is a Senior Program Manager on the Microsoft Carbon Removal Team. She
procures high-quality carbon removals to ensure Microsoft achieves ambitious carbon
neutrality and carbon negativity commitments. She aims to develop a high-quality, global
voluntary carbon market by catalyzing market growth, transparency, and accessibility.
Prior to Microsoft, Katie helped launch and scale Corteva’s Carbon Initiative, enabling farmers
to de-risk the adoption of new, soil-health building practices. She also worked in engineering,corporate sustainability, and supply chain management roles at Cargill and Walmart. Katie
completed an MBA and Masters of Environmental Management at Yale University and abachelors in Environmental Engineering and Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard College.
She enjoys hiking in the Marin Headlands, cross-country skiing, pickleball, and soil science.

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